


How We Learn to Live

by son_of_a_bitch_spn_family



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Angst, Captain Holt is basically Jake's dad, Case goes bad, Established Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, F/M, Hurt Jake Peralta, b99 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 09:10:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15748647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/son_of_a_bitch_spn_family/pseuds/son_of_a_bitch_spn_family
Summary: “It's a dangerous call, Jake, and it needs to be taken seriously,” Holt told him, eyebrows raising doubtfully. “Are you capable of being serious...ever?”“Not in the slightest,” Jake hummed, eyes brightening, “but I am your man for the job. Uh, what's the job exactly?”“Unstable shooter, and she's got herself locked in a porta potty,” Holt told him, face as blank as ever.Jake's eyes widened.





	How We Learn to Live

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VintageVulpes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VintageVulpes/gifts).



> Fic Commission for the lovely Vintage Vulpes! I hope you all enjoy, and don't hesitate to drop some comments and leave some kudos. Thank you all so much!!!

The call came about midday and Jake was beside himself with boredom. Charles kept throwing him looks, eyes sad like he couldn't believe Jake wasn't entertained by his recollection of every chain of diners in the area. Jake felt as if his head was going to explode, and he'd tried to escape his own skin at least three times already. 

 

“There is a call,” Captain Holt announced, walking in the room and crossing his arms. 

 

“It's mine!” Jake shouted, nearly tumbling from his chair to get up. “I'm so bored; please let me go.” 

 

“It's a dangerous call, Jake, and it needs to be taken seriously,” Holt told him, eyebrows raising doubtfully. “Are you capable of being serious... _ ever? _ ” 

 

“Not in the slightest,” Jake hummed, eyes brightening, “ _ but  _ I am your man for the job. Uh, what's the job exactly?” 

 

“Unstable shooter, and she's got herself locked in a porta potty,” Holt told him, face as blank as ever. 

 

Jake's eyes widened. 

 

“Oh, please,  _ please,  _ let me go on this one! I beg of you,” Jake pleaded, mouth stretching into a wide grin. “I promise I'll be on my best behavior, or as much as possible. I mean,  _ come on,  _ a porta potty? This is going to be better than that time the man with one eye used his nose to hide a bomb!” 

 

“She has a gun, Peralta,” Holt snapped, frowning seriously at him. 

 

“Formalities,” Jake scoffed, waving a hand. 

 

“Well, this sounds like a job for the  _ both  _ of us, Jake,” Charles spoke up, standing up and straightening his tie. 

 

“Only one spot available,” Holt said. 

 

“Sounds like a job for Jake,” Charles replied quickly, sitting back down and sighing heavily. 

 

“I'm tempted to send Rosa or Terry, but they have other matters to attend to,” Holt muttered, frowning around the room as if searching for anyone else he could send. 

 

“Ah, but alas…  _ I'm  _ your only option!” Jake cackled, crossing his arms and grinning smugly. 

 

Holt shifted in place, giving a put upon sigh, and eyeing Jake skeptically before saying with great reluctance, “So it seems.” 

 

Grinning, Jake took the file and practically fled to his car. On his way out, Amy waved and blew him a kiss. Jake caught it and slid it in his pocket with a crinkle-eyed grin. Antsy with energy and refusing to waste time and miss any action, Jake tore off down the streets. 

 

The station had mostly been slow recently. Just lame crooks and misguided teens frequented the place. There was barely any investigations to slide himself on, and Jake wanted to be happy that crime had went down recently, but he couldn't help but be disappointed. Truth was, he was  _ bored.  _

 

Things in his life were great. He had his family at the station, and he had Amy. They were going to get married soon, and Jake could slowly feel the little clicks of his life falling together. But outside of all those wonderful developments, Jake was going insane the urge to  _ do something.  _

 

Arriving at the location, Jake shook out his shoulders with a wide grin. Today was going to be a good day; he could already tell. 

 

Cops were perched behind their cars, all eyes turned to the navy blue porta potty. The longer Jake stared, the more he could see the porta potty jolt as the perp no doubt moved around. Holy smokes, that had to be  _ horrendous.  _

 

“Peralta?” A random cop called out, waving his hand around. 

 

“Hey, that's me,” Jake replied, walking over to stand by the small group of cops. 

 

“I'm Zach,” He said. 

 

“Alright, Zach, what are we looking at here?” Jake asked, shifting slightly, crossing his arms, and tucking his lips together. He knew  _ exactly  _ what he was looking at, but he wanted the other man to say it. 

 

“The perp, a thirty eight year old woman with blonde hair and a leather purse. She has an unregistered gun and apparently holds no record. Seems like she went and had a mental break,” Zach told him, reaching back to scratch his head in blatant confusion. 

 

“I see,” Jake hummed, nodding in mock seriousness. “Where exactly  _ is _ the perp?” 

 

Zach immediately looked sheepish, twisting his hands together before slowly motioning towards the porta potty. “Well, honestly sir, she's in there.”

 

Jake hid a smile behind his hands, furrowing an eyebrow pointedly. Zach looked to be a bit younger than him, though not by much,  _ but  _ an innocence clung to him. He was clearly ashamed, or flabbergasted, by the fact that he was on a case like this. Jake knew nothing else to do besides tease, as was his nature. 

 

“In  _ where,  _ young man?” 

 

“In the, um, porta potty…” 

 

“This a joke to you, kid?” Jake snapped, fixing his face into a serious expression. Zach shifted restlessly, eyes widening. 

 

“No, no sir, I was just-” 

 

“This ain't no joke, son,” Jake growled, deepening his voice and clapping a firm hand on the bewildered cop’s shoulder. “That woman has a  _ gun,  _ and we have no way of knowing when or where she will pull the trigger. You might want to start taking this a little bit more seriously.”

 

“Yes sir,” Zach murmured, bowing his head. 

 

Jake snorted. “I'm just messing with you, man. So, why did she end up in the porta potty?” 

 

“What?” Zach blurted, looking up with wide eyes, slowly realizing that Jake was just messing with him. “Oh, she just started firing shots, screaming something about bake sales, and locked herself in there when we arrived.” 

 

“Ooh, man, this is about to be the  _ best  _ call I've ever been on! I can feel it,” Jake hummed, checking his gun and grabbing the bullet proof vest that was offered to him. 

 

“Peralta,” An older, more stern looking cop said as he walked close, watching as Jake settled the bullet proof vest on himself. 

 

“Yes?” Jake asked, looking up expectantly. 

 

“You're the only one with serious negotiator experience between all of us, so you're going to be doing the most communicating. We have to get that woman out of her secured location and into custody without  _ any  _ casualties. Are we understood?” The man asked. 

 

“We could always tip it over,” Jake suggested with a wide grin. 

 

The man looked as if he just realized they were all doomed. 

 

“We will approach this situation seriously. Target is unstable and dangerous,” he insisted. 

“Right, of course,” Jake agreed lightly, whispering loudly to Zach, “dangerous enough to hide in a portable  _ toilet. _ ”

 

“You will approach the containment, and you will begin talking to the target. We will all cover you,” he continued, ignoring Zach’s small smile and Jake's blatant jokes. 

 

“Sure thing,” Jake said, clapping his hands together, “let's get this show on the road!” 

 

After being cleared and going through the plan a few more times, Jake slowly made his way between cars. He weaved his way over to the opposite sidewalk, fingers light on his gun. He had not a care in the world, and he truly felt absolutely no danger. 

 

“Lisa!” Jake called out as he drew closer. 

 

Almost immediately, a hand popped out the porta potty and gunshots rang through the air in wild directions. Jale immediately hit the ground, covering his head and waiting for silence to reign. Once it was quiet again, Jake got up with a shaky exhale. 

 

Okay, so Lisa was definitely dangerous. 

 

“Still here, Lisa, don't shoot!” Jake shouted, watching as the hand froze from where it was about to start pulling the trigger yet again. “I'm here to talk to you, okay?” 

 

“What do you want?” Lisa called back, her voice muffled and annoyed. 

 

“I just want to help you, okay?” Jake said calmly, slowly edging closer. “Tell me what seems to be the problem.” 

 

“I should've  _ won, _ ” Lisa hissed, sniffing primly and gripping the gun harder. “It's not fair! My brownies were real and good!” 

 

“Brownies?” Jake asked, confused. 

 

“For the bake sale!” Lisa screeched, firing off another gunshot, sending Jake careening to the side desperately. 

 

The cops behind him shuffled, and Jake held his hand out, halting their movement. Slowly and carefully, he edged closer to porta potty. Lisa's hand had went limp, and Jake could faintly hear her groaning in despair. 

 

“Your brownies sound amazing,” Jake told her calmly, shifting from where he stood quickly. “I adore brownies, actually. You probably should have won, and I'm sorry you didn't.” 

 

“They said I didn't qualify,” Lisa muttered, the gun waving from side to side. “It was for a  _ fundraiser; _ what did it matter, anyway?” 

 

“Why didn't you qualify?” Jake asked softly, coming closer slowly. If he were to lunge, he might be able to get ahold of the gun. 

 

“My son… he died last year. They said I had to have a kid to participate,” Lisa whispered, her words broken and sharp. “I have a kid; he's just not  _ here  _ anymore. They wouldn't listen, no one listens.” 

 

Jake felt something splinter in his chest, a raw feeling of pain. It was a tragedy what she was saying, and Jake felt guilty for making fun of her from the start. But still, there was one thing eating at him that he didn't understand. 

 

“Lisa,” Jake murmured gently, edging around her outstretched arm, “why the porta potty?”

 

“Where else was I supposed to go? Stupid choice, I  _ know,  _ but it was the only one I had,” Lisa griped, the gun suddenly swinging to be level with his face. 

 

Jake swallowed thickly. 

 

_ Now or never.  _

 

Lunging forward, Jake grappled for the gun, trying to wrench it from her hands. Faintly, he heard the cops shout an order and feet shuffle against the pavement. But that was about all he heard. With one last screech, Lisa pulled the trigger, and to Jake, everything went black.

 

He doesn't remember what happened after the gun popping off, but Jake wakes up  _ terrified. _  There is a pain in his right shoulder wires attached to his arms. Jake groaned and blearily looked around. 

 

“Jake.” 

 

Jake blinked, eyes falling to take in Captain Holt. Dressed as usual, Holt looked the same as ever. But even then, there was something  _ off  _ about him. He looked...not blank. 

 

“Captain?” Jake asked slowly. 

 

“How are you feeling?” Holt asked flatly, moving over to hover his hands in the air around him, like maybe he could do something, but realizing abruptly that he couldn't help in anyway. 

 

“Stiff,” Jake admitted, looking around the incredibly bland hospital room. “What happened?” 

 

“I made a mistake it what happened,” Holt murmured, lips pressing together as he swallowed thickly. “I should have never put you in such a dangerous situation without me as back up. I am very sorry.” 

 

“You can't always be there to save my ass, Captain,” Jake assured him, giving a crooked smile. “You didn't do anything wrong.” 

 

“I may not always be there, but in situations like those, I should be,” Holt said, reaching out to press his hand in Jake's left shoulder. 

 

“Hey, what happened?” Jake asked nervously, not liking Holt’s show of emotions. “Did I grow another pair of arms or something? Lose an eye? That'd be terribly ironic.” 

 

“You will heal quickly, the doctor's say, but we were all incredibly worried,” Holt told him seriously, face slipping back to blankness. 

 

“Did she shoot me?” 

 

“She tried. Gun misfired and hit your shoulder. If not for that misfire, you'd possibly be dead.” 

 

“Wow,” Jake mumbled, “pleasant.” 

 

“I should go inform Amy that you're awake,” Holt announced and promptly left the room. 

 

Jake sat back in the bed, mystified. He couldn't believe how close he'd come to genuinely dying. He'd never get to pick on Holt anymore, never get to spend time with Rosa, or Terry, or Charles. And  _ God,  _ Amy. They'd never have gotten married, never have kids. She'd have been a wreck, and Jake felt incredible guilt tug at him. 

 

All that about needing to do something, to evade boredom, and he'd nearly cost himself his life. Was it worth it? 

 

“Jake!” Amy cried, sailing into the room and pressing a kiss to his lips. 

 

Their faces smooshed together, and Jake's eyes fluttered closed. He couldn't barely feel any of his pain, and he remembered suddenly that if he'd have died, the last thing he and Amy shared was a blown kiss put in his pocket. Sweetening the kiss, Jake pressed a gentle hand over her soft hair. 

 

She was crying. 

 

“Shh, hey, I'm fine,” Jake promised. 

 

“If you  _ ever- _ ” 

 

“I won't.” 

 

“He won't get the chance,” Holt said seriously, folding his arms together and peering at Jake in a no nonsense way. “Peralta will be on desk duty until I decide otherwise.” 

 

“Aw, you  _ do  _ care,” Jake teased, grinning dopily at Holt. “You're the best dad.” 

 

“Sucking up will get you  _ nowhere,  _ son,” Holt deadpanned, one eyebrow sweeping up sharply. “Desk duty, no negotiations.” 

 

Jake looked at Amy, the love of his life, and his heart nearly broke. He thought about how the rest of his station family would be hovering soon, telling him they love him in their own way. He thought about Holt, how truly terrified he'd been. And he thought of his future and how close he came to not having one. 

 

“Sounds fair to me,” Jake murmured, reaching in to reel Amy into another kiss. 

 

No thrill was worth losing this. 


End file.
